Meandering Magees: Ottawa to Peoria

Day 4

367 miles

We had talked about possibly staying at Heritage Harbor in Ottawa for 2 nights, but we got up Saturday morning and decided to take off for Peoria. Going 10 mph, the almost 80 mile trip took us 8 hours. We had been traveling the last few days under cloudy, gray skies, but the sun finally broke through in the afternoon. We only had one lock between Ottawa and Peoria - Starved Rock. (Starved Rock State Park is regarded as the best state park in Illinois.) As we approached the lock, we saw 3 other boats waiting, and a tow being raised in the lock. The river is marked with red and green buoys and we have to stay between them. This isn't difficult when you are the only boat. But knowing this barge was coming at us after it exited the lock, we had to crowd the red buoy to stay out of the way of the barge and other 3 boats.

After waiting about an hour, and after the arrival of 2 other boats, we entered the lock. This one was yet another new experience for us. In the other locks, we would loop a rope around a bollard, which is a large cylinder in the side of the lock wall that lowers with the water. At Starved Rock, a lock worker threw Mike (who was on the bow) a long rope and then threw a long rope to me (on the back). These ropes were tied to a rail. We just had to hang on to the ropes, letting them slide threw our hands as we lowered 18 ft.

Most boats doing the Loop have 2 people on board (usually a husband and wife) and manage everything fine. I have to say I am so thankful there are 3 of us, and will be more so when Karen joins us. I like that Mike can be on the deck with me in the locks and docking while Greg does the driving. The design of our boat makes it nearly impossible for the driver to also help in the locks as some of the trawlers or smaller boats can do.

Being on the back of the boat, I was close enough to talk to the lady on the bow of the boat behind us. They were also on the Loop, but in the home stretch as they started in Mississippi. That is one of the interesting things about the Loop - everyone starts from a different place. It is not like a race, where everyone starts and ends at the same spot.

Coming out of the lock, we had a boat in front of us. It was going just a tad slower (9 mph instead of 10). We decided to let this boat pave the way for us (dodging debris) and settled in behind it. 47 miles later, the boat called us on the radio to say they were turning off into a protected area to anchor out for the night. We thanked them for letting us ride their wake. Our afternoon was filled with listening to the Michigan and then Notre Dame football games and bird watching. (lots of birds)

We arrived at Eastport Marina in Peoria at 5. If the Illinois river was at normal level, we would not have been able to stay at this marina due to shallow depth. But the river is about 2 ft higher so we were good. The wind had picked up quite a bit and Greg did a great job bringing us in. The harbormaster and 3 seasonal boaters lined the dock to catch our lines. That was our first clue that we were going to like Eastport Marina. A beautiful facility with free laundry and free ice. We like free!

Even with having a washer and dryer on the boat, I took advantage of the free washer and dryer.

We struck up a conversation with the guys who helped us dock. They gave us a marina recommendation for our next stop and one of them offered us the use of their car to make a grocery run to Kroger. We stayed here Saturday and Sunday. The wind died down and Sunday was a beautiful day. The guys spent it organizing storage compartments and some maintenance things. I did laundry, got groceries, cleaned and went back up top to replace some navigation light bulbs.

The Kay Bird IV (the boat we rafted off in a lock) arrived at Eastport on Sunday afternoon and we had dinner with them. I mentioned he was a veteran of boating the Loop and we got lots of helpful information.

A shorter trip on Monday to Havana. (Illinois, not Cuba!)